Potato flour is really made from whole potatoes, and potato starch is the starch removed from the rest -- if the terms are used correctly, they are not interchangeable, but they aren't always used correctly! I believe I have bought a package with the label "potato starch flour." ...just to make life and baking/cooking more difficult.
I agree with Susan G. But most recipes I know calling for potato flour or potato starch do so because potatoes are easy thickeners like cornstarch or arrowroot. Wheat flour used as a starch thickener tend to need a bit more cooking to achieve a similar result. Sometimes these sorts of starches show up in European recipes for cookies, though, because they are "softeners," meaning because they are dry and ground fine and gluten free, they add to the tenderness of a cookie.
Could you give some information about the recipe? If the potato flour is being used because the recipe is gluten free, you wouldn't use 'regular' flour because it is wheat flour.
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